The Charnel Rose: A Symphony Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDAECF GHIJKK CCJ LMNMOAA OP OAOADQQDAO HHRSRTSAD AUVWVSS X DYX DZA2A2 VFQYFQ B2 RRZZ C2C2HHD2D2E2E2F2F2CC G2G2OOMMYYG2G2 G2G2H2H2G2G2I2I2J2J2 G2G2LLA2RNNMMSSK2JL2 M2YYG2G2G2NLG2G2G2G2 I2I2H2H2LNN2N2 G2 VG2VO2SG2AA G2 DP2DP2Q2R2Q2R2G2S2G2 S2MG2MG2T2YT2YG2G2G2 G2U2V2U2V2 G2 G2G2G2G2 W2FW2V2DFV2 X2She rose in moonlight and stood confronting sea | A |
With her bare arms uplifted | B |
And lifted her voice in the silence foolishly | A |
And her face was small and her voice was small | C |
'O moon ' she cried 'I think how you must tire | D |
Forever circling earth so silently | A |
Earth who is dark and makes you no reply ' | E |
She only heard the little waves rush and fall | C |
And saw the moon go quietly down the sky | F |
- | |
Like a white figurehead in the seafaring wind | G |
She stood in the moonlight | H |
And heard her voice cry ghostly and thinned | I |
Over the seethe of foam | J |
Saying 'O numberless waters I think it strange | K |
How you can always shadow her face and change | K |
And yet never weary of her having no ease ' | - |
But the sea said nothing no word at all | C |
Unquietly as in sleep she saw it rise and fall | C |
And the moon spread a net of silver over the foam | J |
- | |
She lifted her hands and let them fall again | L |
Impatient of the silence And in despair | M |
Hopeless of final answer against her pain | N |
She said to the stealthy air | M |
'O air far traveller who from the stars are blown | O |
Float pollen of suns you are an unseen sea | A |
Lifting and bearing the words eternally | A |
O air do you not weary of your task ' | - |
She stood in the silence frightened and alone | O |
And heard her syllables ask and ask | P |
- | |
And then as she walked in the moonlight so alone | O |
Lost and small in a soulless sea | A |
Hearing no voice make answer to her own | O |
From that infinity | A |
Suddenly she was aware of a low whisper | D |
A dreadful heartless sound and she stood still | Q |
There in the beach grass on a sandy hill | Q |
And heard the stars making a ghostly whisper | D |
And the soulless whisper of sun and moon and tree | A |
And the sea rising and falling with a blind moan | O |
- | |
And as she faded into the night | H |
A glimmer of white | H |
With her arms uplifted and her face bowed down | R |
Sinking again into the sleep of sands | S |
The sea sands white and brown | R |
Or among the sea grass rustling as one more blade | T |
Pushing before her face her cinquefoil hands | S |
Or sliding stealthy as foam into the sea | A |
With a slow seethe and whisper | D |
- | |
Too late to find her yet not too late to see | A |
Came he who sought forever unsatisfied | U |
And saw her enter and shut the darkness | V |
Desired and swift | W |
And caught at the rays of the moon yet found but darkness | V |
Caught at the flash of his feet to fill his hands | S |
With the sleepy pour of sands | S |
- | |
'O moon ' he said 'was it you I followed | X |
You who put silver madness into my eyes ' | - |
But he only heard in the dark a stifled laughter | D |
And the rattle of dead leaves blowing | Y |
'O wind ' he said 'was it you I followed | X |
Your hand I felt against my face ' | - |
But he only heard in the dark a stifled laughter | D |
And shadows crept past him with furtive pace | Z |
Breathing night upon him and one by one | A2 |
The ghosts of leaves flew past him seeking the sun | A2 |
- | |
And a silent star slipped golden down the darkness | V |
Down the great wall leaving no trace in the sky | F |
And years went with it and worlds And he dreamed still | Q |
Of a fleeter shadow among the shadows running | Y |
Foam into foam without a gesture or cry | F |
Leaving him there alone on a lonely hill | Q |
- | |
I Part | B2 |
- | |
Evening in the twilight town | R |
One by one the stars stepped down | R |
Each to assume his destined place | Z |
And there he saw the destined face | Z |
- | |
Her eyes were void here eyes were deep | C2 |
She came like one who moved in sleep | C2 |
And when she looked across the night | H |
Beneath among those points of light | H |
Into his heart she shot a pang | D2 |
As if a voice within him sang | D2 |
Sang and was silent Down the street | E2 |
And lost in darkness fled the feet | E2 |
Ambiguous the street lamp's gleam | F2 |
Mocked at her eyes and then the dream | F2 |
From shuttered window shadowed hall | C |
Chuckled beyond a lampless wall | C |
- | |
Among the crowding lights he went | G2 |
Where faces massed like lillies blent | G2 |
And this time plucked and made his own | O |
Above snarled music's undertone | O |
Breathing the perfume of her hair | M |
He touched her arm but suddenly there | M |
As in a dance of shadows fleeing | Y |
His eyes were shut for fear of seeing | Y |
He watched red roses dropt apart | G2 |
Each to disclose a charnel heart | G2 |
- | |
Ghostly with powder in the night | G2 |
Her hand upon his arm was white | G2 |
Her gown was light and lightly blew | H2 |
A gauze of flame it burned him through | H2 |
Under the singing lamp she stood | G2 |
And smiled in subtly fugitive mood | G2 |
From depth to depth of wingless skies | I2 |
Withdrawing batlike down her eyes | I2 |
And in his heart an echo came | J2 |
Of quick dust quaking under flame | J2 |
- | |
Pale walls enclosed them One light shed | G2 |
A yellow flicker across the bed | G2 |
Loud steps rang through the street and then | L |
The hush of night grew deep again | L |
Two shadows on the wall made one | A2 |
What human walls were here flung down | R |
The light extinguished as in pain | N |
The weak light dying in the brain | N |
Green leaves pushed up through yielding air | M |
Greedy for life she loosed her hair | M |
With conscious and indifferent hands | S |
High on his cliff above hard sands | S |
He saw the moonlit ocean come | K2 |
In ever inward rings of foam | J |
Heard them break to shoot and seethe | L2 |
Ever inward far beneath | M2 |
The ringed horizon rhythmic coming | Y |
And in the moonlight silent foaming | Y |
But the dream changed thick minutes dripped | G2 |
Between his fingers a fleet light slipped | G2 |
Was gone was lost | G2 |
And on the sand or in his brain | N |
He saw red roses fall again | L |
Rose wreathed skeletons advanced | G2 |
And clumsily lifted foot and danced | G2 |
And he saw the roses drop apart | G2 |
Each to disclose a charnel heart | G2 |
- | |
Whose were these loathed and empty eyes | I2 |
Who falling in these wingless skies | I2 |
This was not she he rose withdrew | H2 |
One shadow on the wall made two | H2 |
The human walls stood up again | L |
Far in the night or in his brain | N |
He heard her whisper felt her pass | N2 |
Shadow of spirit over glass | N2 |
- | |
I Part | G2 |
- | |
And a silent star slipped golden down the darkness | V |
Taking his life with it like a little cloud | G2 |
Consumed in fire and speed diffused in darkness | V |
Tangled and caught together the days the years | O2 |
His voice his lifted hands | S |
Were ravelled and sped where by the sea he bowed | G2 |
And dreamed of the foam that crept back into the sea | A |
And the wandering leaves that crept back into the tree | A |
- | |
I Part | G2 |
- | |
Roses he thought were kin to her | D |
Pure text of dust and learning these | P2 |
He might more surely win to her | D |
Speak her own tongue to pledge and please | P2 |
What vernal kinship then was this | Q2 |
That spoke and perished in a breath | R2 |
In leaves she was near enough to kiss | Q2 |
And yet impalpable as death | R2 |
Spading dark earth he tore apart | G2 |
Exquisite roots she fled from him | S2 |
Her stigma in the crocus heart | G2 |
Probed for delicately would swim | S2 |
Lazily faint away on air | M |
Not to be caught or held she fled | G2 |
Before him wavering everywhere | M |
A summer's secret behind he shed | G2 |
Music He found it under earth | T2 |
Quick veins of fire he heard her sing | Y |
Upward it broke a springing mirth | T2 |
A fugitive and amazing thing | Y |
It flashed before his crazy feet | G2 |
He danced upon it it would not stay | G2 |
His hands against its brightness beat | G2 |
But still it broke in light away | G2 |
O bird he cried if bird you are | U2 |
Keep still those frantic wings a while | V2 |
Thus dancing for the evening star | U2 |
In hope to capture it by guile | V2 |
- | |
I Part | G2 |
- | |
The moon rose and the moon set | G2 |
And the stars rushed up and whirled and set | G2 |
And again they swarmed after a shaft of sunlight | G2 |
And the dark blue dusk closed above him like an ocean of regret | G2 |
- | |
White trident fires were lit on the tops of towers | W2 |
Monstrous and black the towers broke the sky | F |
The ghostly fountain shot and tumbled in showers | W2 |
Gaunt leaves turned down above it thirstily | V2 |
The gold fish and the fish with fins of silver | D |
Quivered in lamplight rose with sinister eye | F |
And darted into the darkness silently | V2 |
- | |
The faces that looked at him were his own fa | X2 |
Conrad Potter Aiken
(1)
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